The vision for this blog is to create a community of harmonious professionals across the care continuum who encourage each other in exploring digital media as a way to support businesses and families dealing with elder care.
Written on May 18th, 2010 by tasha
A lot of people ask me to explain social networking. It is certainly a different kettle of fish. Sometimes the easiest way to explain something unfamiliar is by comparing it to something that is well known. In that light, I thought I might describe a blog, which is one of the top social networking platforms, within the context of two other digital media you may know better: a website and an e-newsletter.
There are several different points of comparison:
- Style and tone
- Content
- Audience
- Who is in control of the message
- Time & Pet Equivalent
Read the rest of this entry »
Written on February 23rd, 2010 by tasha
Search engines love blogs. Having a blog means that your website gets updated on a regular basis. It also adds content on topics of interest to your customers. The more useful the content, the more likely it is that others will link to you. With one tool, therefore, you are able to hit three of the top five factors that will boost your ranking in a search engine result.
Blogs are fun and easy. Of all the social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.) a blog is quick and casual, requiring very little computer knowledge. If you know Word, you will be able to find your way through a blog application, and can even post pictures and videos if you have them available in your archives.
A blog is not a small project, however. Where your business website is like a fish (set up the aquarium and then it needs relatively minimal maintenance), a blog is like a puppy. It needs to be monitored daily and you need to post on it regularly. (I would say once a week.) Your articles do not have to be long. And they can be more commentary and opinion, rather than a fact-based research article. Still, you do need to have a writer who can take a factoid or two and produce 200-300 words of fairly interesting content on a regular basis. Many hospices have closet writers on their staff. Ask around. You may be surprised.
Because a blog invites comments from readers, you need to be ready with policies in place to address negative comments, and assure that protected health information is not revealed by staff, or by the commenters themselves. (Think HIPAA.) Safeguards can easily be put in place to handle both, but it takes some preparation and forethought before you jump in and start blogging.
If you would like to learn more about blogging (and Facebook, Twitter and YouTube for that matter), please come to the Pre-Conference workshop Social Media and Hospice (PC-05) that I will be co-presenting at the NHPCO Management and Leadership Conference with 3 other in-the-trenches hospice social media folk: David Cherry (of NHPCO); Susan Wallace (of the Ohio Hospice and Palliative Care Organization); and Liza Paul of The Mount Carmel Hospice.
Written on February 8th, 2010 by tasha
Find out at the NHPCO PreConference April 21.
While there has been a lot of publicity about the swelling ranks of Boomers on Facebook, the demographics deserve a closer look. I will be co-presenting at this 3 hour workshop on Social Media and Hospice (PC05), offered in conjunction with the NHPCO Management and Leadership Conference in Washington, DC this April. Joining me will be in-the-trenches social marketing hospice folks David Cherry (NHPCO), Susan Wallace (Ohio Hospice and Palliative Care Organization) and Liza Paul (Mount Carmel Hospice).
This very practical course is designed to help you make wise strategy decisions. The focus will be on setting realistic objectives for several different departments that might benefit from the unique strengths of social media:
This overview workshop includes topics designed help you chart a course in the dynamic, but sometimes intimidating world of Web 2.0:
No programming experience is needed! (In fact, we we’ll be talking strategy the whole time. No HTML allowed!)
There are many advantages to participating in social media, not the least of which is increased exposure and search engine optimization for your company website.
If you have any questions about the session, by all means, contact me. I’d be happy to answer them: tasha@elderpagesonline.com
Or post them as comments here.
